Chapter 007
Those Who Listen Well Have No Reason to be Scolded (3)
【 Wahaha! It seems your sister looked after you quite thoroughly? 】
Shing’s mocking laughter was so loud it echoed around the room before piercing my ears again. Having lost even the strength to rebuke him, I let out a hollow laugh.
‘So, what… Odette relayed orders to the servants that I never even gave, and they just followed them blindly?’
Imagining Odette piteously asking the servants to “understand her poor sister” made my blood boil. At this point, I was genuinely curious about where her inexplicable malice toward me had even begun.
“Haha… Is that what Bonita said? That I wanted to wallow in this filthy room until I couldn’t be distinguished from a beast, so you should all neglect your duties? Is that what she told you?”
“…I am deeply sorry, My Lady.”
“……I never gave such an order.”
“Then it seems I have misheard and misjudged. If you hand down a fitting punishment, I shall accept it willingly.”
Did she think I was just being stubborn? Marahan offered a meaningless apology with a resigned expression. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Odette had started gifting me those Panilnia flowers about two years ago. It had been a year and a half since I asked Father for the confinement order…
These people must have also endured painful days because of their master, who began to change two years ago. It was true that I had torn at their hair and showered them with tea. It was true that I had continued my unwanted tirades because of Odette. It was also true that many servants neglected me, looked down on me, and often played tricks. So, what should I do?
I agonized over whether to punish and expel those who ignored their master’s will in favor of Odette’s words, or to show mercy and present a changed side of myself.
“…It seems you do not believe me.”
“How could that be possible?”
Good grief, the Sahara Desert wouldn’t be as dry as her tone. Suddenly, I remembered the times I used to pester Marahan whenever I craved snacks in the middle of the night.
— “Marahan, you actually hate me, don’t you?”
— “……Hush, My Lady.”
— “Otherwise, there’s no way you’d be so stingy with a single snack! You’re mean!”
When I grumbled like that, she would always give in and secretly hand me a cookie or a madeleine. Even then, she was kind enough to remind me not to forget to brush my teeth… That warmth was gone now. Marahan simply looked exhausted.
‘She probably thinks the young lady she once knew is gone forever.’
However, old ties are old ties, and negligence is something that cannot be tolerated. At Marahan’s stoic attitude, I let out a low, mocking laugh and spoke.
“A fitting punishment. You speak of the obvious quite resolutely.”
“…….”
“Fine. Since your attitude is so firm, I must hand down a punishment that matches it.”
Marahan remained with her head bowed, simply waiting for my instructions. The maids behind her showed various reactions—some looking as if they had chewed on something foul, others closing their eyes tightly as if fearing an excessive penalty.
“The four of you, including Marahan, failed to carry out your duties properly. Furthermore, I am pointing out the insolence of following the instructions of others rather than those of your master, and I will hold you accountable for that sin.”
“…….”
“Spend the entire day cleaning my room until not a single speck of dust can be seen.”
“I shall follow your comm—”
“…….”
“Pardon?”
Finally, a flicker of agitation appeared on Marahan’s face, which had been as dry as parched earth. Realizing she had questioned me out of reflex, she clamped her mouth shut and looked at me with a bewildered expression.
I repeated the command sternly.
“Scrub the floor until it looks like a mirror!”
* * *
“Ugh. When are we supposed to finish this by ourselves?”
“Still, today was the first time she didn’t hit us— Eek! A-a spider!”
“Wouldn’t it be better to ask for help even now?”
How long had it been since they started cleaning? Marahan shook out a dingy, faded tablecloth, suppressing the urge to lecture the calves of those who were already beginning to whine. She was too preoccupied with the confusion of thinking about Rosetta—who had already left the room—to point out that the maids didn’t even realize how merciful the punishment was.
— “Marahan, you are no exception. By the time I return from dinner, you must finish tidying this room with the others. Do you understand?”
By ordering her to perform tasks unsuited for the rank of Head Maid, Marahan’s punishment ended there. Rosetta hadn’t screamed like she usually did, nor had she thrown things or cried without knowing why she was angry. She had simply commanded.
From that image of Rosetta, Marahan pulled out a long-buried memory.
— “Marahan, Marahan. Look at this. Father gave it to me because he said I was doing well in my lessons. It suits me perfectly, doesn’t it?”
— “I heard Baron Epsilon and his daughter are coming today. I hope we can be good friends.”
Her small master, who had been kind and vibrant, was praised as the most beautiful rose in the Arkanis Empire when she first welcomed her new family. Marahan had wished for her eternal glory every time those dark crimson waves of hair came fluttering toward her with a smile. There was a time like that.
— “I… I threw tea at Bonnie. Marahan, why do I keep doing this? I was just so angry……”
Contrary to a mere servant’s wish, Marahan’s small master began to change more and more after living with Odette. She grew anxious and frequently lost her temper. It couldn’t be dismissed as mere jealousy toward Odette, who was consistently kind to everyone. Marahan knew well that Rosetta was just as, if not more, gentle a lady. So, in the beginning, she tried to comfort and soothe her.
— “It seems the Duke is truly furious. A confinement order……”
— “It’s only natural. The Lady is becoming stranger by the day.”
But Rosetta eventually ended up trapped in her room. Even so, Marahan instructed the servants to look after the master’s unlit room and continued her duties meticulously for the day the Lady would finally emerge. One day, one week, one month, four months…
Walking the hallways where her master no longer trod, Marahan ran into Odette coming out of Rosetta’s room one day. She assumed Odette had come to give her flowers again, as she so kindly did. Marahan thought so, and Odette, who greeted her with a smile, paused for a moment and called her.
— “You know, Marahan. The sound of Rosetta-unnie rustling around in her room seems to bother her. So, if anyone enters and touches her room without her permission before she orders it, she won’t stand for it……”
And just like that, the things prepared solely for Rosetta lost their place. Marahan couldn’t even feel disappointment. To describe it as disappointment was insufficient for the long time she spent simply breathing helplessly, finishing her quota, sleeping, and waking up again.
Thus, Marahan felt wronged. She had desperately hoped that her small master would one day return to being the lady who once commanded this Bennetra estate. Despite that wish, she was the one who had taken away their duties while ignoring their master’s presence.
And yet now, like a bird trying to escape its cage, she was flashing those jewel-like eyes and commanding them to do their proper work?
“Marahaaan. Ma’am? Are you listening to us?”
“…Quiet! Stop chirping!”
Startled, one of the maids even began to hiccup in her embarrassment. The other two also straightened their slouching postures and looked at Marahan anxiously.
“Not knowing how lucky we are that it ended like this—how can you be so immature! Do you want to be kicked out of the mansion without even receiving your pay for the crime of failing to do your part?”
“It—it’s not that. We just……”
“I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that we must finish before the Lady returns. If we don’t finish in time, you and I might actually be kicked out this time, so clean diligently.”
Marahan scrubbed the floor relentlessly with a brush. Even though the mold was deeply set and wouldn’t come off easily, Marahan had to suppress the subtle smile that kept leaking out. The mold would eventually be scrubbed away. Just as the Lady said, she intended to show her a floor like a mirror.
* * *
“I’ve thought about it. I think it’s better to show my face at an event first.”
I stared blankly at the library ceiling and muttered to myself. I had stationed Penny outside so I could speak with Shing without discomfort, giving myself a few hours of leisure. After giving instructions to Marahan and the girls, I headed straight for the library. On the way, I realized that in the Rose Pavilion, my room was the only thing that was dingy.
“No matter how much I screw over Bonita… no, Odette and Rianna inside the house, isn’t the reality that I’m already rumored to be the headache of Bennetra outside? Of course, the public excuse is that I’m ill.”
【 Mmm. Those who know, know. 】
“Furthermore, since Odette often holds tea parties at home with other ladies, it’s obvious my reputation must be in the gutter.”
【 Now that I think about it, darling. Did you even have your debutante? I heard you’ve been cooped up in your room for over a year. 】
“Cooped up! Goodness, a ghost sure has a crude way of speaking.”
Shing mocked me, asking if I didn’t remember myself saying “that bitch Odette” and “that damn Chesia” during our first meeting, but I ignored him entirely. Rather, looking at him sitting proudly in the seat next to me with his chin in his hand, I thought it was quite a sight. He had no face, yet he was acting exactly like a person, which made him look rather eerie.
“Normally, I would have gone out for my fifteenth birthday… but unfortunately, as you said, I couldn’t have it because I was cooped up in my room.”
Wait, fifteen?
I snapped my head up from where it had been reclining against the chair.
